


leave 'em burning (and then you're gone)

by halftheway



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Caleb Widogast is a Mess, Drunken Flirting, M/M, casually ignores all canon feelings and does what i want, fjord's 7 wisdom is biting him in the ass huh, this is set in some nebulous au where molly is alive and it's Fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:28:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22919953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halftheway/pseuds/halftheway
Summary: He drains his ale, wipes his mouth, and faces Fjord. “You are very handsome, you know that?”Fjord laughs, startled. “I- Thank you?”Caleb nods. “I just, ah. Thought you should know.”
Relationships: Fjord/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 8
Kudos: 166





	leave 'em burning (and then you're gone)

**Author's Note:**

> brought to you by me being absolutely enamored with how travis plays fjord being hit on. (yes the title is from dancing queen)

Fjord’s easy flirting with Jester is a far cry from his panicked eyes and stammers when barmaids make eyes at him, and Caleb would find it funny if it weren’t so puzzling. He’ll compliment Jester and give her winks like it’s nothing, but the moment that kind of attention is turned his way he’s immediately flustered and tries to flee.

The concept of flirting itself has always escaped Caleb, no matter how easily it had seemed to come to most of his companions. It’s second nature to Molly, charming everyone they meet, and Jester seems to have a formula of batted eyes and gentle touches she’s perfected. Yasha, at least, shares his confusion. They commiserate, sometimes, and it makes him feel less alone.

“Why do you care so much?” Nott interrupts one night. She’s hoisted herself up on a barstool beside Caleb.

Yasha raises an eyebrow.

“I _don’t_ care,” Caleb says, aiming for casual.

“Then why do you always talk about it?”

She’s got him there. Yasha claps him on the back as she stands and he chokes on his ale a little. She wanders away, heading toward the little table Caduceus and Molly have claimed. Caleb watches her go to avoid answering Nott’s question.

Evidently she’s not accepting his silence, because she clears her throat noisily. “I don’t know,” he says. Truthfully, he doesn’t, but that doesn’t change that he thinks about it so often.

“Do you think it’s maybe because you’re interested in him?” she prompts, her scratchy little voice soft.

“I- no,” he says, but he sounds unconvincing to his own ears. He sighs. “It's partly because I feel like I am missing something, it's so easy for everyone else to talk and laugh with people and i- it has never been like that for me.”

She nods sympathetically.

“Interest in Fjord or no, I suppose I'm just- envious.”

“So there _is_ interest?”

He hadn't noticed Jester sneaking up behind them, and she grins when she sees him jump.

“I never said that,” he mumbles. he's unsure of how to proceed; last he knew Jester was still nursing unrequited feelings for Fjord.

“Oh, if you're worried about me, I'm fine,” she says, waving a hand. “I got over Fjord _ages_ ago. He's too cranky for me.”

Caleb knows that's not entirely true, and she does have a tendency to hide her feelings, but her smile seems sincere.

“Anyway, I bet he would like you too if you gave him the chance,” she continues. She hops onto the stool between him and Nott, sticks her ring-laden hands over toward Nott and wiggles her fingers. “You have a lot in common.”

“What do you mean?”

“You're grumpy too,” she says. “And you're both smart, and handsome, and-”

She cuts herself off as Fjord approaches the bar. He doesn't join their conversation, focused on securing the next round for his and Beau’s impromptu drinking contest, but Caleb is thankful for her pause nonetheless.

As if on cue, the elf behind the bar leans over the counter, eyes Fjord suggestively, and he starts tripping over his words and leaves without their drinks.

“I would not want to make him uncomfortable,” Caleb says as soon as he’s out of earshot. He watches Molly keel over laughing at Fjord, who smiles sheepishly.

Jester rolls her eyes as Nott slides a ring off her finger. “He wouldn't be freaked out like that,” she says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

“How do you know?”

“You're different! Fjord doesn't like that kind of attention from strangers,” she explains cheerfully, snatching her ring back from Nott without looking. “He knows you, though. I don't think he would be uncomfortable if it was you flirting with him.”

Caleb blinks. He doesn't know what to do with that information, and he searches Jester’s face for any sign that she’s joking, but she's eyeing him with a rare seriousness.

“I would not know how, anyway,” he says, averting his eyes.

“We can help, if you want!” Nott offers, and an involuntary laugh escapes him.

“Maybe another time," he says. Fjord comes up to the bar again, takes a seat at Caleb’s other side.

“Hi, Fjord,” Jester singsongs.

“Hey, Jester," he says, giving her a warm smile. "What’re y’all up to?"

“Oh, just talking,” she says. she gives Caleb a meaningful look and taps Nott’s hand discreetly. “We’re gonna go bother Caduceus now, bye!”

She whisks Nott off to where Caduceus is now sitting on his own in the corner, sipping from his travel teacup and looking serene as ever. A small smile spreads across Caleb’s face at the sight of the whirlwind that is Jester arriving at the table, Nott in tow, as Caduceus invites them to join him.

“Whatcha thinkin' about?”

Caleb jumps a little. “What?”

“You were smiling,” Fjord says. “Don't see too many of those, I was curious.”

“Ah,” Caleb says, and doesn't elaborate.

Fjord looks at him, amused. His tusks are growing back, one a bit longer than the other, poking slightly out between his lips. It's hopelessly endearing, and Caleb doesn't realize he's staring until Fjord speaks.

“You feelin’ okay?”

“I am alright. Just… tired, I think.”

“You wanna head to bed?”

“Maybe.” He glances around the room. Beau and Yasha are nowhere to be seen, and Molly is currently doing a tarot reading for a pretty dragonborn, a crowd of patrons around them.

Jester and Nott appear to be deep in conversation with Caduceus, but Caleb knows them well enough to know they're watching him talk with Fjord.

“Did we ever decide on rooms?”

Fjord nods. “Cad’s rooming with Molly tonight, and I think Beau and Yasha have already… retired, so to speak.” He clears his throat before continuing. “Jester wanted to have a sleepover with Nott, something about ‘girl talk’, I thnk. So you’re with me.”

“ _J_ _a_ , I… suppose I am.”

Fjord quirks an eyebrow. “You sure you're alright?”

He drains his ale, wipes his mouth, and faces Fjord. “You are very handsome, you know that?”

That startles a laugh out of him. “I- Thank you?"

Caleb nods. “I just, ah. Thought you should know.”

“Well, I certainly appreciate it,” Fjord says. “Where did this come from?”

“I talked to Jester and Nott about it, he says. Fjord makes a small noise but doesn't interrupt. “The way you react when people… come onto you- you look so uncomfortable, and I did not want to be responsible for making you feel that way. And then Avantika- happened, and-”

“And what, you think I was comfortable with her?” Fjord says, incredulous.

“Judging by your bruises the next day, I assumed so, _ja_.”

He gives another one of those laughs. “Fuck no. She was- it was complicated,” he says, running a hand through his hair.

Caleb watches, hardly daring to breathe until he continues.

“But she’s not what we're talkin’ about, is she?”

Caleb shakes his head.

“When people- I don't like it because they're strangers, they don't see _me_ , you know?”

Caleb knows. He’s spent a solid amount of his life crafting himself into someone unnoticeable for those reasons.

“It would never feel like that with you,” he says, his voice suddenly gentle. “I trust you, Caleb, I- I feel safe with you.”

He stops breathing, then.

“I don't know what's going on in that head of yours,” he continues, covering Caleb's hand with his own. “But I hope you know you don't have to worry about making me feel like that.”

He squeezes Caleb's hand gently and walks away, and Caleb is dizzy and unsure of what's just happened.

**Author's Note:**

> *continues to blissfully ignore the multiple canon love triangles and writes for less popular ships*


End file.
